Waiting until the last minute to make plans for the total solar eclipse? Good luck. You’re likely to find high rates, sold-out hotels and congested highways along the route. Cleveland will experience totality for about four minutes, starting at 3:13 p.m. April 8. That’s the same day as the Guardians' home opener and the day after Cleveland hosts the NCAA women’s college basketball championship game. Tourism officials here expect about 200,000 visitors. A Priceline study found that the average price of a hotel room in Cleveland from April 6-9 was $472 – up 109% over the same period in 2023. Airbnb reports a 1,000% increase in searches for short-term stays along the path. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee of sunny skies. Starting next week, cleveland.com will publish a daily eclipse forecast. — Laura |
Overnight Scores and Weather |
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Next month's total solar eclipse is driving up prices for hotels and flights in Cleveland and along the path of totality. (Dave Caulkin, Associated Press file photo) |
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Eclipse travel: Susan Glaser reports tourism companies that track travel demand are showing a surge in rates along the path of the eclipse – a sure sign that the once-in-a-generation event will be the blockbuster occurrence that officials have been predicting. Port traffic: The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the entrance to Baltimore harbor has disrupted ocean-going trade to one of the busiest ports on the East Coast, but as shippers reroute their freight, it’s unlikely that much of it, if any, will pass through Cleveland. Peter Krouse reports that Cleveland could see a little more general cargo, such as steel, but for the most part, freight will be absorbed by competing East Coast ports or sit on the dock waiting for the Port of Baltimore to reopen. Today in Ohio: If the Browns want to move to Brook Park, could they take millions of dollars of sin taxes set aside for stadiums? Not under current rules. We’re talking about how the sin taxes are specific to the lakefront stadium on Today in Ohio, cleveland.com’s daily half-hour news podcast. |
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Term limits: More than three decades after Ohio voters approved legislative term limits in the state, top Ohio House and Senate leaders say they’d like to loosen or eliminate them entirely. Jeremy Pelzer reports those sentiments, first raised to reporters by House Speaker Jason Stephens last December, then seconded by Senate President Matt Huffman last week, came mostly out of the blue as there’s been no serious attempt to ask voters to alter or repeal a 1992 state constitutional amendment limiting House and Senate members to eight consecutive years. Shrinkflation: A group of Democratic U.S. Senators, including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, want to crack down on “shrinkflation,” in which corporations raise consumer costs by reducing the size of their products without also lowering prices, reports Sabrina Eaton. Saying the practice is particularly common among companies that sell consumer goods like household paper products, cleaning products, snacks, and candy, Brown and his colleagues argue that it eats into the purchasing power of American families. Medicaid audit: A total of 124,448 people enrolled in Ohio Medicaid also received benefits from at least one other state for at least three months between 2019 and 2022, reports Laura Hancock. The Ohio auditor found that Ohio paid managed-care organizations more than $1 billion for people enrolled in multiple state programs. Waste lawsuit: State Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against an oil and gas waste facility with a long track record of poor handling of hazardous and radiologic waste it processes, Jake Zuckerman reports. The suit, filed against Pennsylvania-based Austin Master Services in the Belmont County Court of Common Pleas, accuses the facility of “egregious violations of Ohio law at its oil and gas waste facility” in Martins Ferry on Ohio’s eastern border. |
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Moreno breakdown: While Bernie Moreno won every county in Ohio in winning the Republican U.S. Senate primary, he did not sweep Cuyahoga County in the same manner, reports Zachary Smith. Moreno, who faced off against state Sen. Matt Dolan and Secretary of State Frank LaRose to run against incumbent Sherrod Brown in the fall, picked up 49% of the county vote in winning 35 of the 59 cities, villages and townships. |
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Hospital benefits: The Cleveland Clinic is high among U.S. nonprofit hospitals not doing enough to directly benefit their communities, and University Hospitals ranks second in Ohio behind the Clinic, according to the Lown Hospitals Index 2024 Community Benefit ranking. Julie Washington reports the Clinic’s main campus ranked fourth on the Lown Institute’s list of 10 U.S. hospitals doing the worst in community spending. These hospitals receive more in tax breaks than they give back to the community. MetroHealth salaries: MetroHealth System exceeded its systemwide goals for 2023, which means CEO Airica Steed and other hospital leaders will receive their full salaries, Julie Washington reports. Steed was able to earn her entire salary, the hospital system said. That includes the $900,000 guaranteed portion and a performance-based variable compensation award for 2023 of $381,156, the board of directors voted on Wednesday. Family Dollar: Family Dollar will close 600 stores over the next few months, including multiple stores in Ohio, but the company has not yet disclosed where or how many, reports Sean McDonnell. In a layoff notice sent to the state, the company said it “intends to close multiple stores located in Ohio” on April 20. Urgent care: University Hospitals Urgent Care in Medina has relocated to a new facility, reports Gretchen Cuda Kroen. UH Urgent Care Medina has moved from 4001 Carrick Drive to 716 N. Court St. |
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Catholic Charities: Attorneys in a wrongful death lawsuit against Catholic Charities obtained new evidence on the third day of jury selection: thousands of hours of recorded phone calls made from prison, reports Cory Shaffer. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Brian Mooney granted a request from Catholic Charities’ lawyers on Wednesday morning to let them review recordings of phone calls that Larissa Rodriguez made after she was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the death of her son, 5-year-old Jordan Rodriguez. Ponzi scheme: The FBI is investigating a former Copley High School basketball coach who has been accused in lawsuits of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Adam Ferrise reports agents are investigating Mark Dente and his property and securities investment company, AEM Services, and asked for victims to come forward and contact agents. South Euclid shooting: Few details have been released since a South Euclid police officer shot a shoplifting suspect Tuesday outside a Walmart. Molly Walsh reports an officer was outside Walmart when he shot a 43-year-old man who had been stealing from the store located at 1868 Warrensville Center Road. Sentence upheld: The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Cleveland felon’s five-year prison sentence, citing his criminal history and the need to protect the public, reports Molly Walsh. The state’s highest court agreed that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Kathleen Sutula made the proper ruling by giving James W. Jones two, 30-month sentences in 2021. Arson settlement: Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority will pay a Cleveland man a $40,000 settlement after he spent 518 days in jail for an arson that may have never happened, reports Adam Ferrise. Juan Taylor spent 20 months in the Cuyahoga County Jail on attempted murder and arson charges stemming from a July 2019 fire that destroyed three CMHA townhomes and damaged four others in the city’s Central neighborhood. Cocaine seizure: Authorities seized nearly $2 million in cocaine during a traffic stop of an Arizona woman in Madison County, the State Highway Patrol said. Andrea Celaya Rodriguez, 27, of Tucson, has been charged with trafficking in drugs and possession of drugs after she was pulled over with 110 pounds of cocaine, reports Olivia Mitchell. Diddy mule: A former Chagrin Falls basketball star, accused of being Sean “Diddy” Combs’ “drug mule,” was arrested this week on cocaine charges in Miami. The arrest of Brendan Paul, 25, adds to the widening case of Combs, who reportedly is under federal investigation involving sex trafficking. Walton Hills: Police say a 26-year-old man was found dead in the front yard of a Walton Hills home Monday, reports Molly Walsh. Officers were called about 9 a.m. to the 17300 block of Sagamore Road, where Walton Hills police and Oakwood paramedics found an unresponsive man in a front yard. |
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'Hamilton': "Hamilton" is coming back to Cleveland, reports Paris Wolfe. For those who have or haven’t seen it and aspire to do so, the show is returning to Playhouse Square next summer for a run from June 17-July 6, 2025. Ask Lucas: If your veganism is socially ostracizing, what should you do? Lucas Daprile writes that there are plenty of delicious vegan things you can bring your friends and family to convince them you aren’t just some bored person, desperately searching for a sense of identity in a world oversaturated with performative virtue-signaling. Whisk(e)y Day: International Whisk(e)y Day has been celebrated since the late 2000s when it was established in honor of British spirits writer Michael Jackson, whose birthday falls on the boozy occasion. Alex Darus reports the proper way to celebrate International Whisk(e)y Day, outside of drinking, is to honor the unusual parentheses in its name. It indicates the inclusion of Scottish, Canadian and Japanese whisky that is spelled without the “e” utilized in Irish and American expressions. New Gunselman’s: Gunselman’s Steakhouse and Bar is planned to go into the old Olmsted Falls Library, reports Marc Bona. Gunselman’s Restaurant Group – which operates Gunselman’s Tavern in Fairview Park – said the target opening date is early June. Kelce on ESPN? Some reports say ESPN is pursuing the recently retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce for its "Monday Night Football" pregame show, reports Marc Bona. |
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Jury convicts Columbus man of fatal road-rage shooting in Summit County Read more Richmond Heights council passes legislation to keep city orderly Read more North Olmsted City Schools plans innovative stormwater mitigation at new PreK-5 building Read more Parma Fire Department scores big, receives $600,000 FEMA grant for new SCBA tanks Read more Brooklyn one step closer to major natatorium renovation Read more Olmsted Falls receiving $3 million in federal dollars for Columbia Road upgrade Read more |
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